New Delhi, Apr 28 (ANI): Charging senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Murli Manohar Joshi, who heads the Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the ruling Congress Party on Thursday demanded an explanation from him over leakage of the draft report.
Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natrajan slammed Joshi for destroying the institution of the PAC.
"The fact is if there are lies and if a draft report is leaked, the Chairman of the committee should explain how it happened? He cannot abuse his office as Chairman by leaking a draft report and by putting lies in, by saying that people who appeared - I told the Chairman of a committee of Law and Justice," said Natrajan.
"We are demanding from him to explain first how this happened; he has not explained. How can he put out a report saying somebody appeared who did not appear which meeting never happened (took place). It is an outrage, it is a bolt on democracy," she added.
Natrajan further blamed the BJP for politicisation of the issue and wasting an entire session of the Parliament over their demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the 2G spectrum scam.
"I think the worst politicisation of the PAC was done by the BJP. Time and time again, the Congress has said that the PAC is a committee of both the houses of Parliament, a solemn committee of the house that they will go into the 2G issue but they held up the entire session of parliament," said Natrajan.
"Winter session of the parliament was wiped out, because the BJP insisted that the JPC should be set up and they said that the PAC has no powers at all. So they politicised. They wasted the time and money of the people and of the house," she added.
The BJP, however, earlier today criticized the Congress Party for 'politicising' the contents of the Public Account Committee's draft report that was leaked to certain sections of the media on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the meeting of panel members of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee ended abruptly this afternoon with Murli Manohar Joshi walking out.
It has been reported that the other panel members raised their voices with respect to the draft report that was leaked to a certain sections of the media on Wednesday, which led to heated arguments prompting Joshi to walk out.
All 21 members of the PAC probing the 2G spectrum allocation scam were present at the meeting. According to television channel reports, 11 of the 21 members of the committee, including SP and BSP members, submitted signed voting slips rejecting the report.
The PAC in its report on Wednesday indicted former Telecom Minister A. Raja for misleading the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, in 2008.ccording to the PAC report, the PMO could have intervened faster in objections presented on A Raja's 'First Come First Serve Policy'.
The draft also says that Raja misled Dr. Manmohan Singh to fulfill his 'nefarious designs' leading to a staggering loss of revenue.
The draft further adds that the Prime Minister was aware of the advice given by the Law Ministry, which was contrary to the view of the Telecom Ministry.
The report is also critical of Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, who was the Finance Minister then.
According to the PAC report: "We are shocked and dismayed that instead of initiating stringent action against all those responsible for the loss, the Finance Minister in his note asked the Prime Minister to close the matter." (ANI)
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